I am an advocate of conciseness. If you can say everything you want with fewer words, do it. If you have a complex idea that requires a whole lot of words, split it up. Cut out prepositional phrases and needless verbiage.
Our language is wonderful because we can rearrange ideas in any way we want. I can say, "I fed my kitty," "my kitty got fed," "feeding occurred with my kitty," and several dozen more versions of the same idea. However, among all the variations, "I fed my kitty" is the clearest and most concise. It says everything we need to know. The other versions are all used either for style, accentuating a particular aspect, or just being weird.
In time, and with enough practice, you can certainly learn to weave style and conciseness. As always, I recommend saying your writing out loud. If you trip on your words, so will your audience (especially since you even know what you're trying to say). If you need to read a sentence more than once to understand it, it needs to be rewritten. Keep it at 15 words or less. A giant sentence is a burden. Lighten the load for your readers.
About Me
- Kevin Bahler
- I am a writer. A writer is one who writes. By the same logic, I am also a thinker, an observer, and a puzzle solver. I am a graduate from the State University of New York at Cortland with a degree in Professional Writing. The idea of the program is that one studies all three aspects of writing as a whole: Creative Writing, Technical Writing, and Rhetoric. The knowledge I have gained in those subjects is put to use in every aspect of my life. The worst thing a person can be is boring. I am most interested in people who can pique my interests. An example is people who can correctly use the word 'pique'.
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